’Twas bad enough that Esmeraude insisted upon nonsense and that she defied him openly—before his own squires!—without the added complication of another party approaching.
Bayard was even less pleased that he quickly recognized his brother and cousins among the surrounding escort of squires. Other suitors for Esmeraude’s hand were not the people he wished to see, not before this unpredictable lady had sworn herself to him for all eternity.
That she seemed particularly disinclined to do so at this moment only irked Bayard further. He hastened after Esmeraude and laid claim to her palfrey’s reins, taking due note of how she flicked her hair over her shoulder, a sign of pending trouble.
The three approaching knights had once been his close friends as well as his cousins and Bayard felt a pa
